


Butterfly

by softshiber (shuuvee)



Category: ATEEZ (Band), NCT (Band), The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Angst, Crack, Fluff, M/M, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:13:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuvee/pseuds/softshiber
Summary: Donghyuck's finally getting over his ex-boyfriend, one poorly thought out tattoo at a time.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Son Youngjae | Eric/Lee Jeno
Comments: 11
Kudos: 25





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rendawnie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rendawnie/gifts).



[Soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qODWFe6v3zA)

***

“And like I couldn’t fucking believe it because I was just standing in line for waffles in the dining hall and not one but _two_ boys _and_ a girl came up to me to give me their numbers. Like, I was just wearing my usual glasses and sweatpants, my hair probably looked like shit –”

“—Yeah yeah yeah, as much as I want to keep hearing about the life and exploits of fuckboy Jeno, we’re here,” Donghyuck huffed loudly, pausing in front of an unremarkable storefront. The only thing giving away that there was a tattoo parlor inside was the small sign hanging from the awning above them that said _Under Cover_ , as if that were an original name. At least the coffeehouse next door was called “Bloom Bloom.” Anyways, his best friend’s classmate’s older brother recommended the place, saying that they had the best artists around. Not to mention that they were somehow the _only_ place around campus.

“But Hyuck, I’m just getting to the best part,” his best friend pouted, “And I always listen to you complain about your six-month post-Mark Lee drought.”

Donghyuck shook himself free of Jeno’s grip on his shoulder, turning around to face him with his arms crossed across his chest. Jeno had a few centimeters on him and could probably bench press him if he really wanted to, but Donghyuck’s “may I speak to your manager” face was equally if not more terrifying than Jeno’s football (soccer) star body.

“Sorry, _He Who Shall Not Be Named_ ,” Jeno miffed. “I still think that makes him sound like Voldemort and not, you know, your ex-boyfriend who only broke up with you because he moved back to fucking Canada.”

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Can you finish your story so that we can deal with my clearly more important problems already, Jeno-yah.” It was more of a demand than a question, but this was _important_ , unlike Jeno’s second co-ed threesome this week.

It’s Tuesday, by the way.

“I was _going_ to tell you that one of the boys who gave me his number was Renjun, and that he was absolutely mortified that he didn’t recognize me because I was wearing glasses and I never wear glasses, but now you probably don’t even care,” Jeno muttered, looking off toward the street.

Donghyuck pursed his lips. In the interest of fairness, if Jeno weren’t his best friend and therefore off limits in their friend group, he would’ve asked him out too. “To be honest, I never really cared,” he bluffed.

“Sure, so let me know when you wanna gossip about this in three hours.”

“Shut it.” Donghyuck motioned for his friend to move out of the middle of the sidewalk and closer to the tattoo parlor, bringing his voice down to a hushed whisper. “I need your honest opinion on the blonde-haired artist here.”

He watched as the realization hit Jeno like a wave, his eyes growing wide before his smile transformed into more of smirk-slash-shit-eating grin. “Lee Donghyuck is into someone? A _tattoo artist_ someone?”

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Donghyuck hurriedly retorted, covering Jeno’s mouth. Jeno kept making kissy noises through his hand, which was unsanitary and gross and probably the closest he’d ever get to Jeno besides that one time they cuddled. Fuck, he knew that he was usually tough as shit on the outside, but he also knew that he could only trust Lee Fucking Jeno with this type of monumental responsibility. It was just that convincing Jeno to be his wingman always took some work, especially because he needed a few minutes to be all excited and shit. Gross. “Are you done? Keep your voice down, he might hear us.”

“As someone who is hit on regularly,” Jeno humbly started, “he probably already knows that you’re hopelessly in love with him.” After finishing his snarky comment, Jeno looked down at his outfit selection, nodding as he noted Donghyuck’s choices of denim, leather, and more denim. “Oh, this explains why you’re all pretty and shit today!”

“I’m pretty every day, asshole,” he grumbled.

“ _Extra_ pretty and shit today,” Jeno corrected himself, inspecting Donghyuck’s face from both sides. He even fixed his hair a bit, giving it more of a natural tousle that Jeno had famously perfected by virtue of being effortlessly hot 24/7.

Donghyuck blushed, the embarrassment of this whole situation finally catching up with him. It already took him all day to build enough confidence for the next five minutes, and Jeno – who he wasn’t even interested in – was already unraveling all of his preparations before they even walked through the door. “Thanks, I guess,” he muttered.

“You could’ve worked on your eyeliner a lit—”

“But what I really need from you,” he interjected, internally chastising himself for even thinking about falling for Jeno again, “is your opinion on whether he’s gay or not, whether he’d be into me or not, and whether he’s my type or not.”

Jeno cocked his head. “You don’t know your own type? Like, I’m personally into cute soft boys who break easily. And you… you’re into… well, you’re into Mark Lee. Actually, now that I think about, I don’t really know your type because you’re always just ranting about him.”

“Are you going to help or just bring up my ex for a third time in thirty seconds?”

Jeno pretended to ignore him, which he fucking hated. “Maybe this is why Mark broke up with you…”

“He moved to fucking Canada!!” Donghyuck whisper-shouted, jabbing a finger in Jeno’s muscled chest.

“And he’s probably fucking a lot more in Canada than you are right now,” Jeno reasoned, lifting up Donghyuck’s head with the back of his head underneath Donghyuck’s chin to inspect his features again. “So, yes, I’ll help you because then I won’t have to wash my bedsheets again after you stain them with your tears during one of your Mark-induced crying sessions.”

“Yeah, poor you, you’ll only be washing out your own cum now,” he deadpanned, now questioning whether it was actually a good idea to have his crying sessions on Jeno’s bed and not his own underused and underabused dorm bunk. “Remember, he’s the blonde-haired one.”

“I’m sure it’ll be obvious because you’ll try too hard to impress him, Hyuckie.”

***

Donghyuck opened the door to the tattoo parlor. The interior was basically the same as what he had remembered from yesterday, only that it was considerably quieter on a Tuesday afternoon than on a Monday evening. Besides one of the artists in the background working on a client, it seemed that the only one loitering around in the rock-and-roll-themed parlor was precisely the person he was here to see: Kang Yeosang, the tattoo artist his acquaintance had suggested. Yeosang was stationed at the front counter, seemingly watching something on his phone behind the partition where the register was. Slow day, probably.

The blonde-haired artist was about the same height as him and Jeno, and he looked to be around the same age with youthful, unblemished skin. However, his features were sharp and defined, especially his jawline, nose, and ears, which were pierced with small monochromatic studs in a few positions. Yeosang’s eyes were larger and softer-looking, though, which was more in line with the aesthetic of his fluffy, thick-looking hair, which sported a middle part. It must have been a coincidence, but Yeosang’s outfit was fairly similar to his own with dark-gray jeans and a black denim jacket. He added a few pins along the lapel of his jacket, mostly of bands that were unknown to Donghyuck. Altogether, Yeosang looked like he _was_ the part, that he belonged in his getup, whereas Donghyuck felt like he simply dressed the part, giving him some sort of funky Imposter Syndrome vibes.

Apparently he had been staring at Yeosang for a little too long because Jeno gently pushed him forward toward the counter. Yeosang fumbled with his phone for a moment, locking it and looking up at the two of them.

“Hey, welcome to Under Cover – oh,” Yeosang started, his voice low and steady, yet also friendly and casual. He ran a hand through his hair, but the part returned because of whatever hair product he had used. “It’s you again, the one who forgot their concept art and ran out.”

Donghyuck nervously laughed. “Yeah, it’s me.” _Me_ … As if Yeosang knew his name that he had definitely _not_ told him before he exited stage left to have a gay panic last time. He could feel his cheeks starting to heat up again, only this time it was worse because Jeno was there to watch him crumble in person.

“And you brought a friend?” Yeosang asked, glancing over at Jeno.

Oh, right, Jeno. He looked over at his best friend, his mind racing through all the things he forgot to prepare for because of Jeno’s presence, like _why did I bring my friend this time_ and _did Jeno remember to cover up his ripped body_ and _do I look sexier than my naturally hot friend_.

“Donghyuck came back to our dorm last night and was ranting about how dumb he was to forgot his drawing,” Jeno spoke up, his eyes curling upward into friendly crescents, “And then he mentioned that he was going to a tattoo parlor. I had been thinking about getting one too, so I asked if I could tag along. But you can just pretend I’m not here.”

“Right,” Yeosang demurred, his eyes switching between the two of them. He motioned toward the wall behind the two of them while addressing Jeno. “Well, feel free to take a look around at our past work while I talk to your friend Donghyuck here.”

“Righty o~” Jeno sing-songed, smiling again before meandering over to the wall of tattoo pictures. Thank god Jeno was more of a functioning human being right now than he was – honestly, it was part of the reason that he picked Jeno and not, like, Renjun who was naturally awkward around people who didn’t know. And people who he did know. Honestly, Renjun was just awkward all the time.

Donghyuck looked back up at Yeosang, who was staring at him expectantly. “Fuck, the drawing,” he breathed, palming around his waist until finding it in one of his back pockets, folded up neatly into fourths. “Here it is.”

Reaching over the counter, he handed the small piece of baby-blue paper over to the tattoo artist. He apprehensively watched as Yeosang unfolded it, placing it down on the counter in front of him.

“A butterfly,” Yeosang murmured.

If Donghyuck was fishing for a reaction from Yeosang, he didn’t get one. And since nervous laughter seemed to be his crutch around hot boys, he impulsively giggled – well it would’ve been a giggle, but it was more hoarse and dry-sounding, like he was coughing. Smooth. After collecting himself, Donghyuck tried deflecting a little: “I mean, it’s not the most original idea for a tattoo.”

Yeosang primly glanced up at him. “It doesn’t have to be original… it has to mean something to _you_.”

Donghyuck was so caught up in watching Yeosang’s lips move that he didn’t actually process what he had said.

“What does the butterfly mean to you?”

“Oh, uh,” Donghyuck stammered, temporarily forgetting how to coherently talk. Maybe he should just have Jeno flirt for him? “I’m, y’know, kinda carefree?”

Yeosang cocked an eyebrow. One of his pleasingly straight eyebrows. Shit. Okay okay okay. Thinking about it more, he probably sounded like one of those idiots who hadn’t really thought about whether he _really_ wanted a tattoo.

“No, sorry, let me back up. I’ve thought about this, like, a lot, but I feel like it really is who I am. I, um, like floating around and interacting with lots of people, brightening up their day. I like being involved and being around people, but then I have those moments where I like really want to cocoon into a blanket fort and regenerate for the day.”

Yeosang blinked. “You know that butterflies don’t go back into cocoons, right?”

“And tattoos don’t have to be scientifically accurate,” he instinctively shot back.

Before he could even begin to immediately regret his characteristically snarky reply, Yeosang broke into a small smile. “Fair enough,” he agreed. “Where do you want it?”

“On – on my hip.”

Yeosang clicked his tongue, but didn’t miss a beat. “How big?”

Donghyuck held up his hands up, making a circle with his thumbs and index fingers. “This big?”

“Baseball-sized, got it,” Yeosang nodded. “Do you want color?”

“Yeah,” he quietly replied. “Actually, my friend who recommended you said that you were really good at color, so I was kinda hoping you could come up with an idea of how to color it.”

Yeosang smiled a little again. “Yeah, sure, I can come up with something,” he replied sliding the concept art and a pen back over the counter. “Write down your phone number and name and I’ll send you a picture of the concept art with color and then you can decide whether you want to go ahead with this without having to trek all the way back over here.”

Without thinking much, Donghyuck scribbled down his phone number along the slip of paper and handed it back to the blonde-haired artist.

“Thanks,” he added. “I was really nervous about this, to be honest.”

Donghyuck wasn’t quite sure if the _this_ was referring to _getting a tattoo_ or _talking to Yeosang_. Probably Yeosang.

“I understand,” Yeosang answered, smiling a little again. The shy smile was really doing a lot for him, to be brutally honest. The blonde-haired boy added a second thought: “I think it’ll be cute.”

***

“Jeno, he said it would _cute_ ,” Donghyuck wailed. He dramatically folded his arms onto the small circular table and buried his head into his arms, like an ostrich in the sand, or a Donghyuck hiding from his feelings. The two were interchangeable, really.

His best friend guffawed, his chair squeaking and screeching as he probably leaned back in it. “Are you fucking kidding me, Hyuckie? You’ve been inconsolable for fifteen minutes because he called you _cute_!? Unbelievable.”

“You don’t understand, Jeno-yah,” Donghyuck muffled into his jacket sleeves. “He said I was _cute_ , not _hot_ or _sexy_. I would’ve even settled for _pretty_.”

Jeno seemed so fucking done with him, making another exasperated sound that was a cross between a sigh and a groan. His friend lifted his head up by the hair, causing him to wince in pain. “And what the fuck is wrong with being cute, Hyuckie? You know that you _are_ cute, right?”

Donghyuck swatted his friend’s hand away from his hair, letting his chin fall back down to his arms. “Do you think all those boys and girls give you their numbers because you’re _cute_ , Jeno?”

“I don’t know, it’s not like I ask them.”

He sighed. He forgot that Jeno doesn’t talk to his one-night stands, he just lets them suck his dick. “It’s because you’re a hot football player,” Donghyuck muttered. “And I’m just _cute_ regular old annoying Donghyuck.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being cute, Hyuckie!” Jeno shot back. “I personally really like cute boys. Like the barista at the front counter? Totally my type.”

Donghyuck paused for a moment, looking up and to his right to see who was standing next to their table. Jeno had pulled him into a coffee shop – Bloom Bloom, the one next door to Under Cover – after he literally sprinted out of the tattoo parlor, and, being the bestest best friend he had, Jeno ordered for the two of them. This was probably their order.

“Uhhhh,” the young-ish-looking boy stuttered. “I’ve got a caramel macchiato and an americano for Jeno?”

The barista who was serving them was certainly cute. He had wide eyes and sharp features, both things that he knew Jeno liked. Platinum blonde hair with a blue fringe was odd, but a plus. The boy also looked a little on the shorter side, which was also something Jeno enjoyed. After sizing up the barista, he glanced over at Jeno, whose eyes were wide in shock.

“ _Shit_ ,” he cursed. “Yeah, uh, I’m Jeno.”

“Let me guess,” Donghyuck added, lifting his arms up from the table to clear room for the drinks. His eyes drifted to the barista’s name tag. “This was the cute barista… _Eric_ … who took your order at the counter.”

Jeno’s lack of response was all he needed to know.

“Oh, this is so entertaining, shit like this never happens to you, Jeno-yah.”

“Shut the fuck up, Donghyuck,” Jeno complained, shaking his head vehemently. Usually Jeno was so smooth.

“Uhhh, okay,” Eric interrupted, setting their orders down. “Well, the cute barista is gonna put your orders on the table and then go back to the counter, so, uh, let me know if you need anything?”

“Wait!” Donghyuck called out, causing Eric to turn around as he tried to leave. “Do you guys have couple’s desserts?”

Eric looked skeptical. “Umm, gelato with two spoons?”

“And when are you off today?”

Jeno practically lunged across the table, nearly spilling the drinks while he tried to cover Donghyuck’s mouth with his hand. “Thank you very much for the drinks, please ignore my idiotic best friend and his big mouth. Unfortunately, if he keeps talking, I’m going to have to kill him.”

“That’s cool, I’ve never witnessed a murder and a suicide in the same shift,” Eric blithely replied. With that, he pivoted around and walked toward the back room, disappearing from view.

Once Eric was out of earshot, Jeno released his head from his death grip on Donghyuck’s mouth. “Wow, he’s something,” Donghyuck spilled out, leaning back in his chair now that Jeno wasn’t trying to strangle him.

“Fuck off.”

“I think the suicide was when you said he was cute right in front of him.”

“Welcome to the joke, Donghyuck!” Jeno shouted, still riled up from being pushed off his usually perfect game. He grabbed his americano and brought it to his side of the table, leaving the other coffee in the middle. “Now take your sugar bomb macchiato that I paid for after I helped you scout your potential husband in a goddamn tattoo parlor and then consoled you because he called you _cute_ , you ungrateful ass.”

Donghyuck smiled. “Thank you, love you too,” he hummed, putting the cap on his coffee.

“I literally fucking hate you,” Jeno bristled, taking a sip of his coffee. His face was contorted with a characteristically Jeno glower that actually looked more like a pout.

“No you don’t~”

Jeno huffed, drinking his coffee in a bitter silence for a moment. “He’s definitely gay, by the way. Or bi. Pan. Whatever.”

“Eric?”

“No, you ass,” Jeno countered. “ _Yeosang_. And I think he likes you.”

“He likes me being cute,” Donghyuck hurriedly replied. “And I’m not that cute.”

Jeno shrugged. “You could always try something different. Or you could move on. But I know you when you’re like this. You’re obsessed. You want him. You want him to like you. Besides, it’s not like you can do anything until he texts you the concept art.”

“I could cry on your bed about Mark _and_ Yeosang tonight,” he suggested.

Jeno rolled his eyes. “Oh wonderful. Getting cockblocked by my best friend again.”


	2. Two

[Soundtrack, Chapter 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwFB0orKGzo)

***

“Why the _fuck_ are you doing homework on a Friday night?”

Donghyuck, as usual, was parked on Jeno’s bed in their cramped dorm room. It was much easier to collapse onto Jeno’s bed, which was on the floor next to Jeno’s desk, than to climb up to the top bunk on the other side of the room where his own bed was. When they moved in, both beds were propped above their desks, but they had just enough room to lower one down – after a game of rock-paper-scissors that went from best-out-of-three to best-out-of-eleven, Jeno finally forced him to admit defeat. Lately he felt like Jeno regretted winning, especially because he was always messing up Jeno’s pristine, clean bed. For someone who seemed like they were too attractive to give a shit about mundane, normal-people things like making their bed or, you know, actually studying, Jeno was surprisingly disciplined, hard-working, and neat. But studying on a Friday night was something that Jeno _never_ did. Usually they’d do something, even if it wasn’t necessarily partying. But instead it was nearly 9 pm, and Donghyuck was looking past his socks to see a very muted Jeno at his desk near the foot of his bed.

Jeno glanced up from the textbook he was trying to read, running his free hand through his hair with a bit of a sigh. “Exam,” Jeno tersely replied, the yellow highlighter twitching in his other hand. His wire-framed glasses rested primly on his nose, sliding down a little farther as Jeno pursed his lips.

“Bullshit,” Donghyuck countered, tilting his head to the side so that his roommate could appreciate just how dramatically and emphatically he rejected the notion that Lee Jeno of all people was studying on a Friday night. “You just had three exams last week, there’s no way you would study on a Friday after that hell.”

Jeno quietly clicked his tongue, opting not to reply. Instead, he pretended to ignore Hyuck, uncapping his highlighter with his teeth, dropping the cap on his desk with a thud, and dramatically drawing a few lines through a passage in his book. Donghyuck rolled his eyes even though Jeno was absolutely 100% totally not paying attention to him at all. Jeno knew he had been caught – even if he didn’t want to go out like he usually would, the two of them would have at least made plans with Renjun and maybe Jaemin to go catch a movie. Or go get ice cream. Maybe gelato.

Oh.

_Oh._

“Eric,” Donghyuck blurted out.

Jeno immediately stopped twirling his highlighter. “What?”

“The cute barista, Eric. Blonde hair, dimples, destroyed you with one line?”

Donghyuck watched as Jeno bit his lip, the façade of deep concentration shattered. Jeno seemed to be considering his options, as if he hadn’t considered that someone – well, Donghyuck – might pick up on his problem, the Eric Problem. The ProblEric. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he slowly replied.

“ _Buuuuullshiiiiiiiiit_ ,” he dramatically lilted. “You don’t wanna go out because you’re thinking about Eeeeeeeeriiiiiic.”

Jeno suddenly looked in his direction. “And like you haven’t been glued to your phone for three days waiting for a DM from Yeosang the tattoo artist!” he challenged, his voice loud and defensive. “Fuck, you’ve been laying in my bed for an hour aimlessly opening and closing apps waiting for a text on a fucking Friday night, Hyuck.”

Shit. Donghyuck nervously laughed, still his ever-present response to being called out. “Oh, _please_ ,” he dismissively explained, “I’m so over Yeosang. Haven’t even thought about him since Tuesday.”

“Yeah right,” Jeno scoffed, shaking his head. “Like I’m supposed to believe that considering you’re still not over Mark Fucking Lee six months after –”

“—And even if I was still thinking about Yeosang,” Donghyuck interrupted, “That still doesn’t explain why you’re studying right now.”

Jeno blinked, his eyes scanning the room. “Fine, let’s go out, let’s get some food. _Not dessert_. I want, like, fried chicken or something. Maybe bubble tea. Maybe both?”

Donghyuck smiled, shoving his phone into his pocket and sitting up on Jeno’s bed.

“Are you happy now?” Jeno chafed, tossing his highlighter on the current page and closing his textbook. “Couldn’t even go one Friday without being a little shit, huh?”

“Oh, but this is different, Jeno-yah~” he sing-songed. “Usually I just tease you for getting more numbers in a night than I’ll get in a year, but now I get to tease you because you don’t _want_ any numbers other than Eric’s. So, yes, I am quite happy, thanks for asking.”

Jeno huffed. “You are literally the worst.”

“ _Eric and Jeno, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s_ – Ahhhh!”

Donghyuck felt the wind leave his lungs as Jeno tackled him back down onto his bed, pinning his arms and shoulders down with his hands while his knees were locked right around his torso. He tried to resist, but Jeno had him secure in his grip, not budging an inch. His friend was hovering over him, blonde hair flopping down over his eyebrows. Jeno smirked a little, tilting his head as Hyuck resisted. “No more Eric tonight,” Jeno warned, tightening his grip on his arms. “Understood?”

“Fuck, alright,” Donghyuck muttered, trying to squirm a bit more. “Remind me never to be on the other team when you’re playing, I don’t wanna imagine what a full body tackle feels like.”

Jeno smirked a little more. “You do like being pinned down, though,” releasing his hands and scooting back so Donghyuck could get up.

“Fuck off,” Donghyuck blithely replied, rolling his shoulders as he sat back up. “I’ll text Renjun and Jaemin about chicken.”

“Sure.”

“And I’ll hold my Eric jokes until tomorrow since you said they’re only off-limits for tonight.”

“I swear to god, one morning—”

“—I’ll wake up and you’ll be cuddling Eric on your tiny twin bed, I know, I know.”

Jeno turned toward him ready to lunge again, and this time Donghyuck reacted by grabbing Jeno’s tiger plush near his pillow, holding it as a shield before his roommate could tackle him. “You wouldn’t hurt Jeno-Jam!”

“Humph,” Jeno grunted. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Fuck off.”

“I hope you choke on a piece of chicken tonight and need CPR with no one there to help your sorry ass.”

***

Donghyuck knew he was tempting an early death by sitting on Jeno’s bed, pretending to have a conversation with Jeno-Jam about Jeno’s crush on Eric. He really did. It was just that, well, it was too much fun to sit cross-legged on Jeno’s bed with Jeno-Jam on his knee and go on and on about how pretty Eric’s dimples were and how good he looked when he pushed his hair back and how adorable the rather small height difference between him and Jeno was. Meanwhile, Jeno silently seethed, not humoring any of Donghyuck’s antics while he applied a light layer of moisturizer and picked out a basic button-up with the sleeves rolled up for their dinner date with Renjun and Jaemin, who both quickly agreed. Donghyuck, being his usual Donghyuck self, blatantly denied that _Jeno_ was coming because, well, he was tired of having to walk over Renjun’s dorm room every time he needed to talk to him. Not that he ever actually made that much effort this week. It seemed like the only way for Renjun to get over his fear of being within two meters of Jeno was to rip the proverbial Band-Aid off, and Donghyuck was more than happy to sacrifice his friend’s pride for the satisfaction of watching it happen in front of the three of them.

Jeno, as usual, took a mere fraction of the time it took Donghyuck to get ready and yet somehow looked four times better, something that would’ve irked him more if Jeno wasn’t happily taken now. Well, maybe not happily yet, but definitely soon enough he will get over his fuckboy ways and profess his undying love for the cute barista at the gelato-slash-coffee shop Bloom Bloom. He honestly wondered whether he would get sexiled to Renjun’s room less often if Jeno were dating someone as opposed to his current arrangement.

“Do I need to take Jeno-Jam with me as protection?” Donghyuck innocently asked, holding the tiger plush in front of him as Jeno stood near the edge of his own bed, glowering at his roommate.

Jeno rolled his eyes. “Only if you say anything – and I mean _anything_ – in front of Jaemin or Renjun.”

“Oh, I won’t,” Donghyuck promised, smiling a little. “I’m not that evil.”

“Yes, you are,” Jeno bluntly replied, walking over to his desk to grab his keys.

Donghyuck finally slid off of Jeno’s bed, carefully placing Jeno-Jam near the headboard. “Besides, I haven’t properly roasted Renjun for hitting on you yet.”

“See, you are evil.”

Donghyuck just smiled again, but he was a little miffed that Jeno didn’t catch his response. He wandered over toward the door, letting Jeno lock up behind them. He didn’t bother bringing his keys this time since it was now four-thousand times more likely that they would return home together instead of, you know, two hours before Jeno. Donghyuck had texted Jaemin and Renjun to meet him and Jeno outside the dorm, mostly because he figured Renjun would’ve slammed the door in his face if he saw Jeno behind him. At least Jeno and him could drag Renjun to fried chicken with his friends if he was already outside.

Jeno and Donghyuck wandered out of their dorm, rounding the entryway to stand in front of the deli next to their dorm building. Neither of their friends were there yet – which was unusual, considering Jaemin is usually highly punctual and Renjun loved food – so they loitered in silence, which was just as unusual given Hyuck’s habit of talking literally all the time. It wasn’t like he had _nothing_ to talk about, it’s more that he had nothing to talk about that wasn’t about… well, Eric. Okay, that was a lie. He could always find something to talk about.

“Do you think I’m too cute and innocent for Yeosang?”

Jeno crossed his arms. “You’re hardly innocent,” he muttered. “And I can’t even begin to answer that question based off the, what? Three minutes I saw the two of you interacting in the tattoo parlor?”

“But Jenooooo,” Donghyuck whined.

“Yeah, Jenooooo,” Jaemin added, somehow appearing behind the two of them and wrapping his arms around Jeno’s waist and resting his cheek against the top of the Jeno’s back. The way he could not only apparate from thin air but also perfectly mimic Donghyuck’s whining was more than a little unnerving. But, then again, it _was_ Jaemin, who somehow seemed perfectly normal but also a little too perfect, like everything was an elaborate show of which he was the star. And, of course, that wasn’t true – Donghyuck had to be the star.

“Jaemin,” Jeno commented, shaking his head.

“What?” Donghyuck mocked, turning to face the two of them. “Did you think it was Renjun backhugging you? After Tuesday.”

“Tuesday?” Jaemin quietly asked, his cheek still glued to Jeno’s back and an ethereal smile plastered on his face. He was looking straight at Donghyuck, like he couldn’t be happier to be around the two of them. It was still unnerving, Jaemin looking like the perfect sparkly forest nymph with his fluorescent pink hair and pastel-colored hoodie, et cetera.

Donghyuck started the elaborate process of untangling Jaemin from Jeno, grabbing one of his hands and trying to wrest it from Jeno’s waist. “Renjun accidentally hit on Jeno on Tuesday.”

“Oh, that’s it?” Jaemin quizzed, finally acceding to Donghyuck’s attempts to extricate Jeno from the unnecessary love. “I hit on Jeno all the time.”

“You’d hit on a blade of grass,” Donghyuck muttered, “And then ask it to marry you.”

Jaemin had now moved on from Jeno to Donghyuck, enveloping him in tight, vicegrip-like, characteristically _Jaemin_ hug. He felt like Jaemin was going to crush his spine through both of their jackets. “Not true,” Jaemin politely disagreed. “I’d marry you first, Hyuckie.”

Donghyuck couldn’t tell if the gagging sound he was making was from the lack of air entering his lungs or from Jaemin being such a fucking Leo right now. He didn’t have much time to consider his cause of death because Jaemin loosened his grip, a new target in sight.

“Hi Injunnie,” he lilted.

“Let’s get it over with,” Renjun dryly started, stopping about a meter behind Donghyuck. Jaemin moved over to the shortest of the quartet, getting the last hug out of the way.

“Good boy,” Jaemin cooed.

“Okay okay _okay_ ,” Donghyuck interrupted, yanking Renjun away from Jaemin. “Let’s also get _this_ over with.”

Donghyuck dragged Renjun over toward Jeno, parking him right in front of the football player. “Fucking hell, Hyuck, you told me he _wasn’t_ coming.”

“I lied,” Donghyuck replied, holding Renjun’s shoulders in place so he couldn’t escape.

“ _Bitch_.”

“Yeah whatever. I can’t have two of my best friends unable to be in the same room together, so you need to get over your fear of awkward situations or your fear of Jeno. Because you’ve had the first fear since second grade of primary school, we’re going to work on the second one.”

Donghyuck could practically feel the tiny ball of anger building in front of him. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep, Donghyuck.”

“I’ll help,” Jeno added, raising his hand a little.

“Perfect. We good now?” Donghyuck asked, turning Renjun around by the shoulders just to see his scowl. “You guys can plot my untimely, tragic death while we walk to the student union, okay? And I’ll deal with Jaemin.”

Jaemin wandered over and put his own hand on Donghyuck’s shoulder. “More like you’ll be graced by Jaemin’s wonderful small-talk, charming demeanor, and caring personality.”

“Kill me now,” Donghyuck whispered to Renjun.

The shortest shook his head. “I’ll accept you having to talk to Jaemin for 10 minutes as your punishment for deceiving me,” Renjun acquiesced. “But if you ever to do it again –”

“—Yes I know, you’ll burn my fantasy novel collection, shred my favorite tarot deck, and destroy my entire incense collection before killing me slowly and painfully, I’m aware.”

Donghyuck turned toward his roommate. “Jeno, if he runs, you tackle him and drag him to the union.”

Renjun grunted, and Jeno nodded before pulling him forward. The two of them walked in front, making their way to the student union while Jaemin and Donghyuck trailed them by a few meters. “That was surprisingly practical of you, Hyuckie,” Jaemin commented, slipping his hand into Donghyuck’s palm.

“Yeah, well, I want to eat today, not next year,” Donghyuck replied, shaking his hand free of Jaemin.

“It was hot,” Jaemin added, making the two of them hold hands again.

“Stop.”

The four of them slowly – Renjun’s legs were short – made their way to the promised land of fried chicken. Renjun seemed to make peace with his situation, even attempting to make small-talk with Jeno, who was polite and seemed entirely unbothered by the whole Tuesday Trauma. Well, the Renjun-related trauma, not the ProblEric. Meanwhile, Donghyuck was literally enduring a fate worse than Hell itself as Jaemin babbled on and on about literally everything, from his awkward freshmen roommate Jisung to his chemistry labs and Donghyuck’s pretty earrings. If he wanted to get a word in during the Jaemin show – even a 30 second ad during Jaemin’s hourlong daytime talk show– he was sorely out of luck. There were no commercials to interrupt this regularly-scheduled Jaemin programming.

Donghyuck took to daydreaming… er, evening-dreaming while Jaemin droned on about his life story. He knew he would regret this later because Jaemin was known to quiz his friends about little facts that he had told them maybe, like, once ever, and then make a huge deal about how they don’t love him when they obviously do not remember. But Jaemin was all bark and no bite when it came to stuff like that, so Donghyuck didn’t feel especially obligated to pay attention. Instead, he tried to listen in on what Jeno and Renjun were talking about, he tried to count the number of lampposts they passed, hell, he even tried to figure out the fastest way to get to Under Cover from here. He thought about Yeosang and what he was doing right now… probably at home, listening to something indie and edgier than he’d ever choose. Maybe he had a cat, and he was spoiling her with treats and having a conversation with her consisting entirely of meows. Hell, maybe he was at a gritty bar trying to get laid. Who knows, but he liked to imagine it was one of the first two options, not the last one. Or if it was the last one, he was just drinking to unwind, not to find someone. Maybe Yeosang was thinking of him.

Maybe he was getting a little too narcissistic.

“—And then I asked Jisung to hold his hand up because he was literally gripping the two-liter bottle with one hand like it was nothing. His hands are huge! He got all shy and stuff, which was absolutely _adorable_ , but then he poured coke straight into his cereal, and I literally had to leave the room because the thought was so gross. Are you even listening to me, Hyuck?”

“Uh huh,” Donghyuck feigned. “Your freshie is weird.”

“Right?” Jaemin finished. “Like, I would’ve invited him with us if he hadn’t been so, I don’t know… insane?”

Donghyuck nearly bowled over Renjun, who had stopped abruptly. Looking up, he saw the sign for the student union’s fried chicken place. “Finally, we’re here!”

When Jaemin glared in his direction, he didn’t even care. “Oh please, I listened to you talk for 10 minutes, I can be excited about food.”

“Not just food,” Renjun piped up. “ _Fried chicken_.”

“See.” Donghyuck grabbed Renjun by the shoulders, motioning Jaemin toward the eldest. “He understands.”

“I’ll remember this,” Jaemin tersely replied.

The four of them entered the restaurant, Jeno first then Renjun, Hyuck, and finally Jaemin. They found a booth to sit at and waited for one of the student workers to pop by and take their order, which was surely gonna be too much food even for the four of them. Renjun always overestimated just how many chicken wings his comparatively tiny body could actually digest, leaving Jeno to (attempt to) be their table’s closer, finishing off whatever everybody else couldn’t eat. The eldest probably regretted sitting down first because Jaemin instinctually slid into the booth right next to him while Jeno and Donghyuck sat opposite of them. After ordering their chicken at the counter, Donghyuck set his phone on the table, frowning when there weren’t any notifications except for the current mobile game to which he was addicted.

He looked up and nearly choked on air. About three tables down was a mop of blonde hair with blue fringe seated at one of the high tables with a red-haired freshie-looking boy. Donghyuck immediately glanced over at Jeno, who was obliviously staring off into space, and then to Jaemin and Renjun, who were fighting over how much personal space Renjun required between the two of them. Therefore, he discretely elbowed Jeno’s arm, motioning toward the table behind their other two friends where the Bloom Bloom barista was sitting. He smirked as Jeno’s eyes widened in shock, turning back to Hyuck to stare daggers – or laser beams – as a warning not to make scene. There was a decent chance Jeno might actually kill him if he did make a big deal out of Eric being so close, and honestly it was more fun to watch Jeno squirm in silence. Instead, he locked eyes with Jeno and winked, making a zipper motion across his mouth. It didn’t seem to make Jeno feel any better; his roommate looked like he was going to have a heart attack any second, and not because of the sheer amount of fried batter he was going to eat in the next thirty minutes.

“I swear to god, Hyuck…” Jeno breathed, his fist clenching into a ball on the table.

Donghyuck kept smiling. “I won’t,” he replied.

“Whoa there,” Jaemin interjected. “No need to crush the chicken with your bare hands there, stud muffin.”

Renjun sneered. “Did you just call him _stud muffin_?”

Donghyuck relished the fact that he was on the other side of the table as Jaemin leaned over to pinch Renjun’s cheek. “Yes I did, my beautiful cupcake.” Renjun gagged and looked like he was going to launch himself through the ceiling and onto the second floor from the sheer embarrassment of Jaemin babying him in the middle of the union, his cheeks and ears flushing red. The ridiculous doting noises of approval only seemed to make everything worse for Renjun.

Just to add to the chaos, Donghyuck’s phone lit up, a text notification flashing across the screen. Jeno saw it too, snatching Hyuck’s phone and typing in his birthday as the passcode.

“How the fuck –”

“—You’ve unlocked your phone forty-two-thousand times in the past three days, Hyuck. I have eyes, you know.”

Donghyuck tried to snatch his phone out of Jeno’s hand, but Jeno just turned his back to Hyuck and held the phone away from him. His persistent struggling wasn’t doing much to slow Jeno down, and his roommate toggled to the texting app. “ _Unknown number_ ,” he ominously narrated. “ _Multimedia message_.”

“LEE JENO YOU BETTER GIVE ME MY PHONE BACK THIS INSTANT OR I WILL –”

“It’s from Yeosang,” Jeno matter-of-factly relayed. “ _Hi, I’m sorry it took so long to finish your request. I know it’s a Friday night, but I wanted to send the finished concept as soon as I finished. Let me know what you think!_ And he attached the image after the message.”

The whole table seemed to calm down for a fleeting moment. “Who the fuck is Yeosang?” Renjun suddenly asked, swatting Jaemin’s hand away.

Neither Hyuck nor Jeno replied; instead, Jeno opened the picture and held it so that everyone could see. The picture was a little small, but it was definitely the tattoo idea that he had given to Yeosang a few days. Well, it was a _version_ of the tattoo – just improved… better in every way. Yeosang had completely re-sketched the wings of the butterfly to be more intricate and beautiful, adding curves and embellishments that made it feel like real piece of art. And the color was absolutely gorgeous, a dazzling mix of green, blue, and purple crisscrossing the butterfly’s wings.

“Is that a tattoo?” Jaemin asked, looking over at Donghyuck. “Are you getting a tattoo, Hyuckie?”

“I mean –”

“— _And you didn’t tell me?_ ”

“Oh get over it, drama queen,” Renjun muttered. “Who’s Yeosang?”

Donghyuck blinked. “He’s just the tattoo artist…”

“ _Who you’re madly crushing on_ ,” Jeno coughed, looking away innocently.

Renjun slammed his fist on the table. “Wait, _what!?_ I should’ve fucking known about _that_.”

Jaemin rolled his eyes. “ _Oh get over it, drama queen_ ,” he nagged, throwing his voice higher to mimic Renjun’s cadence.

“Jeno-yah!” Hyuck whined, finally nabbing his phone out of Jeno’s hand.

Donghyuck looked down at his phone, blowing up the picture of the tattoo larger to inspect it in more detail. Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun all kept shouting at each other – and probably at him, too – but Hyuck tuned them all out, admiring Yeosang’s delicate sketching and coloring. Did he just finish working on the drawing? At 9:30 on a Friday? And then he sent the cute little note along with his tattoo? Donghyuck’s heart started fluttering, exiting out of the picture and typing away. _Omg. It’s gorgeous!!_ Without thinking, he tapped “Send.”

Renjun snapped his fingers in between Donghyuck and his phone, pulling his attention back to the table. “I’m super fucking offended you brought Jeno and not me.”

“Is he hot?” Jaemin quizzed. “Well, like, not hotter than me, but, like, hot enough.”

“Did you text him back?” Jeno added.

Renjun crossed his arms. “Why don’t you just have Jeno write your texts for you since you love him so much.”

“Can you all shut up for five seconds?” Donghyuck hollered. All three of them seemed to calm down, giving him a moment to compose himself.

“First,” he started, pointing at Renjun, “I was going to tell you, but you wouldn’t come to my fucking room because of your Jeno-phobia.”

Next, Donghyuck pointed at Jaemin. “Second, yes, he is hotter than you.”

Finally, he turned to Jeno. “You’re lucky I’ve only texted him and not—”

Before Donghyuck could finish his threat, their buzzer suddenly went off, telling them that their bucket of 60 chicken wings was ready. Donghyuck grabbed the buzzer and wagged it in Jeno’s face. “You and Jeno-Jam are on thin fucking ice.”

Sliding out of the booth, he wandered up to the front counter to pick up their hefty chicken platter. He glanced over at the table just past their booth, and he was a little disappointed to see that Eric had seemingly disappeared already. Donghyuck’s phone buzzed again with another message from Yeosang. _Drop by tomorrow and we can set up the appointment and settle half the payment :)_

Maybe he could stop and get a coffee, too.


End file.
